Mr. Hakeem Olajuwon is a retired Nigerian-American professional basketball player who has amassed a net worth of $300 million during his professional basketball career. Hakeem Olajuwon played in the NBA with the Houston Rockets and the Toronto Raptors, the latter of which he helped to win back-to-back NBA championships in the mid-90s.
He was also a member of the Nigerian national team. In addition, he was a member of the United States Olympic team that won a gold medal at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. Olajuwon is widely regarded as one of the best basketball players in history, and he is the first non-American to be named to both the All-Star and NBA MVP teams.
Following his retirement, Hakeem went on to have a tremendously successful entrepreneurial career. In the last two decades, he has dealt in real estate transactions totaling well in excess of $150 million in value.
Hakeem earned a total of $110 million in pay during his NBA career. During the 2000-2001 NBA season, he earned $16.7 million with the Houston Rockets, which was his highest-earning season to date. In today’s dollars, that would be the equivalent of almost $27 million.
Hakeem Olajuwon Early Life And Career
Hakeem Olajuwon was born in 1963 in Lagos, Nigeria, to Yoruba parents Abike and Salim, who were business owners in the cement industry at the time of his birth. He used to play goalkeeper for his hometown soccer team during his boyhood.
Several years later, while attending the Muslim Teachers College, he began participating in basketball after winning a local competition. Olajuwon later relocated to the United States to play basketball for the University of Houston Cougars, where he has remained since. After redshirting his freshman year, he was elevated to the position of sixth man for the Cougars.
It was about this time that he gained the moniker “The Dream” for his effortless dunking ability on the court. Olajuwon was a key contributor to the Cougars’ appearances in consecutive NCAA championship games during his sophomore and junior seasons. Despite the fact that the team lost both games, Olajuwon was named the NCAA Tournament Player of the Year in 1983.
Hakeem Olajuwon Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets selected Olajuwon as the first overall pick in the 1984 NBA draught. His first season was an immediate success, as he helped the Rockets improve their win-loss record by a significant margin. He finished the season as the runner-up in the Rookie of the Year voting, trailing only Michael Jordan.
More success followed the next season, as Olajuwon assisted the Rockets in reaching the Western Conference Finals, where they ultimately won. Following that, the team advanced to the NBA Finals, where they were defeated by the Boston Celtics in six games.
Olajuwon was the unquestioned leader of the Rockets during the 1988-89 season, completing the season as the league’s leading rebounder with 13.5 rebounds per game. In spite of the Rockets’ disappointing season the next year, Olajuwon maintained his personal and professional success, leading the league in rebounding and blocks the following season.
He also had a quadruple-double, making him only the third NBA player in history to accomplish this feat. Having had a poor 1991-92 season, Olajuwon improved his passing and achieved a new career high of 3.5 assists per game in 1992-93, which was a career high at the time. In addition, the Rockets set a new franchise record with 55 victories throughout that season. Meanwhile, Olajuwon finished second to Charles Barkley in the competition for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player.
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Hakeem Olajuwon Championship
Ogunbowale Olajuwon established himself as one of the best centres in NBA history as a result of his tremendously successful performances in the 1993-1994 and 1994-1995 seasons. He guided the Houston Rockets to the 1994 NBA Finals, where they defeated the New York Knicks in seven games to win the championship and give the city of Houston its first professional sports championship in more than 30 years.
Olajuwon was voted the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player after averaging 26.9 points per game. He was the first foreign-born player to get this honour, and he made history by being the first foreign-born player to win it. He also became the first and only NBA player to win the MVP award, the championship title, the Finals MVP honour, as well as the Defensive Player of the Year award, all in a single season in 1994-95.
The Houston Rockets won their second straight NBA championship in 1995, sweeping the Orlando Magic. During the regular season, Olajuwon averaged 27.8 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. In the game that decided the series, he scored 39 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. He was awarded Finals MVP for the second time in his career, and he was named the Rockets’ lone All-Star.
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Hakeem Olajuwon Property
As a result of his departure from the NBA, Olajuwon has achieved considerable success in the Houston real estate market.
According to a 2006 New York Times storey, Hakeem had purchased more than $100 million in real estate up to that point in his career. Hakeem specialises in purchasing sites that are ripe for development through public infrastructure enhancements such as stadiums or train station construction.
His investments include purchasing vast undeveloped parcels of property along transportation lines and popular highway exits, for example. In November 2006, he purchased a 41-acre parcel of land near NASA’s Johnson Space Center with the intention of developing it into a retirement village.
Parking garages, apartment complexes, business buildings, and single-family houses are among the properties he owns. Having purchased the former Federal Reserve Bank building in Houston, he renovated it into a mosque for the city’s Muslims. He is the owner of the city’s former World Trade Center skyscraper, which is located next to Minute Made Park.
It is against Islamic law to pay or charge interest on loans. Hakeem doesn’t borrow money for his purchases because it is against Islamic law to pay or charge interest. This has made it easier for him to keep his risk and exposure down when the real estate market goes down. In a New York Times profile, Hakeem said that:
“I have been blessed thus far to be able to work with my own capital, which gives me the ability to decide when I want to sell as opposed to having a bank loan hanging over my head that in some cases, can force you to sell even though you may not be ready to.”
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